Benedict Cumberbatch to Play Smaug in ‘The Hobbit’

‘Sherlock’ star Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing dual roles in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films. Cumberbatch, who was already voicing the character of The Necromancer, has been chosen to also play the role of the powerful and greedy dragon Smaug. The same methods used for Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum will be used to capture movement and facial expressions from the actor, and then mapped onto a digital model.